The Icy Lemonade Drink! Yes, Islamabadis Do Have Something Cool

Where summer calls for mint and lemon’s impeccable combo to beat the heat, Islamabad’s cafes’ circle welcomed a new entry, the “Social Café”, located in F/8-4, Plot #2, Ensemble Plaza, Street 48, Islamabad. With the small capacity being well utilized, this café is known for it’s common items being served in a unique and irresistible manner. Similar is the story of their lemonade.

It was a day of 30 degrees, when along with a fellow foodie, I headed straight towards this café. The whole time while I was deciding what to order, I had my eyes on the table next to us who had ordered this giant beverage, and so we couldn’t resist ordering. It arrives in a round glass bowl: the mint and lemon being perfectly proportioned not as a pure liquid, but a crushed ice mixture complimented by mint-lemon ICE LOLLY and a perfectly sliced lemon. This offers a variety to the customer to enjoy it in any of three manners, along with the option to ask for more than one ice lolly.

As an Islamabadi, the fact I encountered was that we care less about rates, as long as it meets the uniqueness we are always hunting, where other lemonades range from Rs. 150 to 270, this mighty bowl of lemonade costs Rs. 375, but the serving is more than one glass. Whereas an ordinary lemonade finishes in 10 minutes normally, this one can be enjoyed for almost 25 to 30 minutes, which means one can only order this lemonade for one whole visit. Let me say this: “its not a beverage, it’s a meal”.

However, the visit was not planned around lemonade, but this café welcomes you with garlic bread and tomato dips, offering a paper menu rolled in a steel glass, to provide you a vibe of being a socialite. We ordered tomato and vegetable soups which were fair in taste, however pretty less in serving, complimented by a single piece of garlic bread, but yes, they were fresh costing Rs. 300/person.

Being a foodie in Islamabad, something which irritates me the most is when a food house is not offering it’s official website or at least a Facebook page, but this café does not only have an official website stating its menu clearly with rates, but also updates it’s social media pages, trying harder to meet new genre requirements by adopting a few marketing strategies.

"A girl of 21, balancing life through food therapy, 5 feet 6-inch live calorie calculator who believes healthy is classic and knows the economics of meeting maximum desires of food with a limited budget."